Chapter 15

Nyle beat Darren by two points again. Two fucking points, just like last time. That devil twink genius was a formidable opponent, giving Darren a run for his money. And worst of all? Aiden's outright amused expression when he'd announced the results and looked Darren's way suggested he knew exactly how annoyed Darren was for losing. But at least he was the one those mocking smiles were acknowledging while Nyle got nothing.

After class, Darren left his stuff in his cell before accompanying Aiden to the storage area. The delivery crates were unloaded when they arrived, so he started checking that everything was there and instructing the three guards where to put what. Meanwhile, Aiden updated the prison's supply records.

By the time stocktaking was done, the guards had moved everything and returned to their posts.

"We all done then?" Darren said, feeling glistering sweat on his face and arms. Heavy lifting in his thick jumpsuit hadn't been a great idea, though the filtration and air systems housed in this part of the facility were partially at fault, too, making the whole place stuffy as a sauna.

"Yeah…" Aiden replied, eyes still concentrated on the tablet.

He tugged the top button of his dark gray-blue uniform free and loosened it, letting the damp skin underneath breathe. The material was probably just as thick as that of the prison's jumpsuits and Darren was beyond baffled how the man wasn't boiling.

"So—"

"It's quite hot in here, isn't it, Mr. Howe?" Aiden cut in, his gaze finally bouncing to Darren.

The question went over Darren's head, his eyes already zeroed in on the stretch of ivory flesh peeking out from between the collar of the uniform and Aiden's prominent clavicle. Sweat-stained, the skin gleamed under the recessed lights, taunting Darren. Filling him with want and thickening his dick.

Damn, he wanted to taste Aiden, who stepped back and leaned against the loading rack across from him. To lick a trail over his hot skin, bend him over the paper-cluttered desk and fuck him raw.

Aiden's eyes dipped to Darren's mouth when he teased his lip piercing with his tongue, then dropped lower, darting to Darren's bulge. After they stayed there for a few heartbeats, he looked back at Darren's face and licked his lips, his gaze heavy-lidded but stern as if he was fighting himself on the inside.

Darren almost lost it.

"Mr. Howe, perhaps you should head back for the day since… we are finished here." And cool off went unsaid.

Fuck.What was this sly fox even saying when he looked like he definitely didn't mean it? His expression, tense and forcefully blank, betrayed the clearly reciprocated interest, yet he was still playing hard to get.

Darren took a step forward, all the while observing Aiden's reaction. When the warden didn't move or say anything, he followed up with another step. Then another one, all the way until he was standing less than a stride away from Aiden.

"Mr. Howe…" Aiden's almost-whisper was coated in something Darren's cock found extremely erotic. Combined with the intensity of Aiden's hazel eyes, Darren was unable to just stand there and take it.

Desire flooding his stomach, he grazed his knuckles against Aiden's cheek. "Kesley…" he breathed out, pinching together his eyebrows in an effort to retain control so he wouldn't pounce on Aiden and devour him whole.

"It's Warden Kesley for you, Mr. Howe."

For a moment, Darren could swear Aiden leaned into the touch despite the bite in his tone, a split second in which he reveled in the contact between them. His eyes fluttered closed and he let out a heavy exhale, pressing his cheek against Darren's fingers as if the gentle touch wasn't enough.

As if he needed more.

Darren soaked the response up with his entire body, his heart rate soaring as Aiden dropped all his walls and showed such an intoxicating side of himself. It paralyzed Darren, his mind going haywire as a need to claim and ravage and possess this man who was so apt at driving him crazy overrode all other thoughts.

"You should go, Mr. Howe," Aiden said a moment later, a frown pulling his facial muscles taut.

Was he playing hard to get again? Or was he afraid control was slipping away from his hands? Whichever it was, he didn't break away from the contact, didn't pull away or push Darren away.

Darren swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. Ignoring Aiden's words, he rotated his hand so he could press his thumb against those tempting lips. They quivered as if about to open so Darren could slip his fingers inside Aiden's mouth, but then Aiden gripped his wrist and shoved his hand away. Darren clenched it in a fist, the sensation of touching Aiden still lingering along his fingertips. As it started to leave him, he looked up, finding animosity directed at him along with a flicker of some violent emotion he couldn't identify.

Aiden Kesley was pissed off. No, not just pissed off; there was more to it, something deeper and a lot more visceral than annoyance. It tugged at Darren's heartstrings, familiar if still unknown, taking him back in time to those memories he kept forever locked.

No. Darren couldn't go there. Not now, not ever. His past needed to stay buried, trapped in the deepest parts of him just like he was trapped here in this prison. Closing his eyes on a deep inhale, he fought to find his center again, returning to reality only once he'd managed to reel in that tempting urge to give in to his demons. He couldn't let them out, they served no purpose when he was so powerless to harness them and use them, when they would only bring on the despair and the anger and the regret.

Darren snapped his eyes open and froze again. Aiden's face stole his breath away. It was so beautiful in its rawness, in the messy, tormented want that seemed to haunt it. In the darkness it betrayed that mirrored his own, that stood up to it and didn't back down or cower. That engulfed him and made him crave to know what tortured this soul which seemed to be so much like him.

He couldn't explain it. The way it was making him feel, the things that Aiden stirred within him. He had overstepped this time, pushed a little too far too fast, and Aiden was about to cut him loose or eat him alive.

"Mr. Howe," Aiden hissed like a snake. "Your duties will not be required tomorrow." He paused there, closed his eyes and breathed in a shaky gulp of air as if he needed that pause for more than to retain composure. Or maybe it was so his next words would hit even harder. "I hope you will have yourself under control next time."

Darren couldn't believe it. Mouth agape, he backed off when Aiden yanked away, his heart thundering in his chest. He should've been fired or punished here. Hell, he should've been thrown into isolation for a month for this kind of behavior. Yet he was getting away with virtually no consequences, even though Aiden looked like he wanted to strangle him.

Darren worked his slack jaw, balling his hands so he wouldn't reach for Aiden again. "Warden, are you—"

"Shut up," Aiden snapped, whipping his head to the side and breaking eye-contact. He was trembling, both in voice and body. "You may leave."

Darren didn't argue, didn't dare to. He nodded and turned on his heel, marching out of the storage bay with his erection painfully confined within his pants. He was going to die, he'd never been so turned on before.

Fuck that Aiden Kesley and his self-control. That man was a demon, reveling in tempting him only to give him blue balls.

Darren veered to the left corridor, mumbling to the guards that he needed the restroom. Once there, he slammed the door of the first stall open and sat on the toilet, shoving his hand down his pants.

Fuuuck. His dick was rock-hard.

He bit on his piercing, slid his jumpsuit down a bit and started jacking himself off. The slightly metallic taste of gold and the sting as his teeth pressed into his lip heightened the sensation of arousal, speeding him up. He squeezed firmly as he moved from base to tip and back, needing to reach that edge and go over it. Aiden's sexy frown flashed in his mind and this time those lips opened and let his fingers in. A tongue licked them greedily and then Darren was flipping Aiden around, bending him over the cluttered desk and ramming into him from behind.

Darren let out a groan as ecstasy crept in and drove his nerve endings crazy. His orgasm crashed into him, wild and merciless, leaving behind a boneless mess slumped on the toilet. He heaved for ages afterwards, staring at the stall's scratched door as his empty mind slowly regained the ability to function. The first coherent thought he had as he cleaned himself up was one he would've shut down immediately, but it was too late now to fight it, not when Darren's entire being was already hooked on Aiden.

Aiden Kesley was going to be the end of him, there was no question about it. The warden, oooooh, he liked control and he liked things to go his way. Darren had suspected that, but he hadn't been prepared for this torture, for the way Aiden would tempt him and then halt him at every step. He'd wanted a challenge, yes. And, oh boy, was Aiden giving him one. It was exhilarating, forcing him to work for it like he'd never had before, making him want to know exactly who he was up against, to figure Aiden out.

Simple lust… Darren was way past that already, this smoldering desire not something he thought he could satiate with just fucking now that he had glimpsed Aiden's dark truth lurking in those soul-stealing gold-specked eyes.

He needed more. He needed it all. He would pursue this, no matter where it led. He had to, because he needed to understand what it was in Aiden Kesley that called out to him in this visceral way he couldn't fight or resist even if he tried to.